Inside Trump: The Game

Donald Drumpf and his supporters tout him as a brilliant business mogul worth $10 billion as a result of hard work and wise investments. However, Drumpf would be richer if he had just done… nothing. If he retired 30 years ago and invested his inheritance in the S&P 500, he’d be worth billions more.

He has a history of failed business ventures, delving into steak, wine, water, vodka, magazines, etc. Drumpf, being a proper narcissist, also created a board game in 1989 –Trump: The Game. A year after its release, he admitted the game was “vastly underselling” the predicted 2 million copies he had hoped for. Weird.

I happened to buy this game a few years ago for $2 at our local thrift store. I never thought it’d be relevant, unfortunately it is.

Let’s look inside.

You are greeted with a personalized letter from The Donald himself! He explains the premise of the game.

I wanted to give this game a genuine try, but the convoluted rulebook is 9 pages. 9. It’s so complicated, and not complicated, all at once.

tl;dr: It’s just a shitty version of Monopoly.
As such, here is a comparison between the two.

My favorite part:Some of the properties on the board reflect Trump’s actual business ventures: airlines, casinos, hotels, etc, many of which have collapsed or gone bankrupt.

Plaza Hotel:After acquiring $550 million in debt, Drumpf declared his 2nd bankruptcy on Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City (1992)

Trump CasinosJust a decade later, Drumpf filed for Chapter 11 again. His company was $1.8 billion dollars in debt.

Trump Airlines
In 1988, Drumpf purchased Eastern Air Shuttle for $365 million. He got a fleet of 17 Boeing 727s, 3 landing facilities, and the right to paint his name on the airplane. He wanted to add some luxury, so he added maple-wood veneer to the floors, chrome seat-belt latches, and gold-colored bathroom fixtures. This was a bust. Drumpf’s high debt forced him to default on his loans & the company was turned over to his creditors.

Conclusion:
All in all, I could not bring myself to play this game, even for a laugh… but it was amusing to look at.